Did you know I have a Pintrest account filled with bookish pages and fandom boards? It is still a work in progress because I wanted to create an account specifically for the fandom stuff since my personal account is a Hot Mess.
Check out my account and a couple of my boards right here!
Recently I picked up several graphic novels from my local library and since these reviews are generally shorter, I decided to combine them into a mash up review!
Captain Marvel Vol. 1: Rise of Alpha Flight
by Michele Fazekas, Tara Butters, Kris Anka (Illustrator), Felipe Smith (Illustrator)
While I've never read Captain Marvel comics before, I was really excited to check her out. The recent trailer prompted me to download this volume from my library and I really enjoyed it. The art is vibrant and the panels contain a perfect amount of dialogue alongside the action. This is a great jumping off point. We dip into Captain Marvel's origins and cover what her mission is here. Like most people she struggles to make the right leadership decisions while wanting to protect her crew. The space element was a lot of fun! I'm excited to read more of this story and can't wait to see more of Captain Marvel.
Gotham by Gaslight
by Brian Augustyn, Mike Mignola (Illustrator), P. Craig Russell (Illustrator), Eduardo Barreto (Illustrator), Robert Bloch (Introduction)
A friend recommended this when I talked about my love of Gaslight Fantasy. It was a good fit. I tore through this over the course of a couple of days.
Batman faces off against Jack the Ripper in this Victorian-set version of Gotham. It had a bunch of my favorite things. There were bustles on dresses, mustaches on villains, and steampunk inventions. I enjoyed the artwork and how this came full circle. Since it is only two issues, both conflicts resolved quickly, but both were interesting story lines. The setting is what drew me in and it had all the classic Batman elements. Very enjoyable.
A few months ago I approached two my dear friends to film a discussion about Jane Austen. I've mentioned before I'm a big Austen fan and we had a lot of fun talking about the books and movies we've watched over the years.
The fall release season is winding down (thank goodness my wallet couldn't take much more), but there are still a few books releasing in November I'm excited about.
Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
Expected Release: November 6th
In this lush fantasy, Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most oppressed class in Ikhara. She lives in a remote village with her father, where the decade-old trauma of watching her mother snatched by royal guards still haunts her. Now, the guards are back, and this time it's Lei they're after--the girl whose golden eyes have piqued the king's interest.
Over weeks of training in the opulent but stifling palace, Lei and eight other girls learn the skills and charm that befit being a king's consort. But Lei isn't content to watch her fate consume her. Instead, she does the unthinkable--she falls in love. Her forbidden romance becomes enmeshed with an explosive plot that threatens the very foundation of Ikhara, and Lei, still the wide-eyed country girl at heart, must decide just how far she's willing to go for justice and revenge.
TW: violence and sexual abuse.
Angel and Bavar by Amy Wilson
Expected Release: November 6th
After the death of her parents, Angel has a lot to get used to: a new home, a new family, a new school. The last thing she’s interested in is making new friends. Until she meets Bavar, a strange boy who slips through the shadows, a boy who might understand her nightmares.
But Bavar doesn’t want to let anyone in. Everyone—and everything—in his enchanted house is already urging him to step up and protect the world from a magical rift and the fearsome monsters traveling through it, a responsibility he wishes he could ignore.
Then Bavar discovers that the monsters are the same ones that killed Angel’s parents. Determined to stop the creatures for good, he reluctantly accepts Angel’s help. Together, Angel and Bavar must find the courage to stand up for each other and themselves to repair the rift between worlds…before it’s too late.
Becoming by Michelle Obama
Expected Release: November 13th
In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African-American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.
In her memoir, a work of deep reflection and mesmerizing storytelling, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms.
This week I'm traveling with my sister to Nashville, Tennessee! I've never visited the state before. While she is going to a conference, I'm going along to see a few sights. I'm hoping to get some reading done and explore the city a little bit. I'm planning to take two books with me since I will have a lot of down time on the trip.
My first pick is from my Fall TBR list for this year. I've decided to take the Fall appropriate choice of Written in Red by Anne Bishop.
My other book is still up for debate. I have two books I'd like to try and they both scream spooky Halloween read to me. I'm choosing between Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova and Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard. Both of them sound amazing and I've wanted to read both for ages.
Help me decide which one to take?Which one would you recommend for this trip?
Recently life has been a lot. The news tends to overwhelm me and recently I needed to make this list for myself as much as for anyone else out there. So whether you need this list because the news it too much or you've had a rough day at work here are ten things I do to self-care.
1) Sign out of my social media. Sign out because if I just close the tab I can easily go right back to it. Instead I sign out so I need to consciously type in the password to jump back in again. Sometimes this stops me and sometimes it doesn't!
2) Reorganize my bookshelf or go to the library - If I touch enough books the world is going to make sense again. If I spend enough time in a quiet place surrounded by books, everything will be ok.
3) Reading - Obviously I love books and reading is one of my go-to self care options. Rereading a favorite book is also one of my favorite ways to relax and give myself a break. So often I feel pressure to read the newest thing and rereading reminds me I can take a break and read what I want!
4)Video Games - For me, being able to solve problems in video games is a big boost. I can't solve all my problems in the real world, but I can solve this issue in a fantasy world! Of course, if I can't solve the problems there I need to choose something else from this list to help me.
5) Taking a bath or doing a facemask - These are both things that restore my mind and body. A lot of people would put this on their list of self care things, but over the past year I've found the joy of reading in the bath. It relaxes me on a level I didn't know possible.
6) Using my favorite mug - I have three favorite mugs. One is an alumni mug from my college. One features one of my favorite bands, Anberlin, and the third is a chipped mug I got from garage sale that hold the perfect amount of coffee or tea I can drink before it gets cold. Drinking from one of these brings me joy and I tend to save them for bad days.
7) Baking- Cookies and cake can solve anything. If I have a particularly bad day, baking can take my mind off the bad things and make me focus on something else. Baking also results in something delicious.
8) Cleaning - One of the best ways for me to take care of myself is to organize my space. If my house is a mess, my mind is a mess. Cleaning up is often a way for me to take care of myself, calm my anxiety, just by doing something productive.
Most of these are all about giving myself a time out and essentially that is what self-care is for me. I am an introvert and most of my self-care is me taking a time out from my family and friends to recharge my batteries.
The end of September was excellent reading time for me. I really enjoyed everything I read and I spent a lot of time reading. I'm excited to share my reading with you this month. Next month will be back to normal wrap ups rather than vlog style. I want to do more with incorporating all the media I consume during a month for my wrap up rather than just books. So be on the lookout for at the end of October!
Last year I posted about how I discovered podcasts and how deeply I fell down the rabbit hole. Today I wanted up to do an update on my favorite podcasts at the moment.
While I still love the three podcasts I mentioned in my original post, I have discovered a few more that I've been obsessed with recently.
My first new love is I Love It! which is hosted by Matthew Gaydos. I follow Matt on Youtube and he is around the edges of a lot of other people I follow like Hank Green and Michael Aranda. I heard him talk about the podcast in a Youtube video and was interested immediately.
I only started listening about a month ago but I listened to all of the episodes that were available (seven at the time) in just a couple of days when I was driving or cooking. Part of my love for this show is its length. The episodes are under thirty minutes and, since I have a very short commute now, they are easy to finish without too many pauses.
My other new addition to my listening line up is Snark Squad which is hosted by Mari and Nichole. These ladies and their guests talk many different types of media and the topics that surround media with a high level of snark mixed in. I really enjoy their commentary and they make me reconsider my opinions on books, movies, tv shows, and tropes I already love. They also have a website for more snark.
As of today those are my newest loves. If you have any suggestions based on these podcasts or the others I've talked about, please let me know. I'm also looking for a good crime podcast and one about ghosts/haunting so if you have any thoughts, send them my way!
Lessons
in the art of espionage aboard Mademoiselle Geraldine's floating
dirigible have become tedious without Sophronia's sootie Soap nearby.
She would rather thwart dastardly Picklemen, yet her concerns about
their wicked intentions are ignored.
Who can she trust? Royal
werewolf dewan? Stylish vampire Lord Akeldama? Only one thing is
certain: a large-scale plot is under way. Sophronia must be ready to
save her friends, her school, and all of London from disaster.
This final book in the Finishing School Series is delightful
for many reasons. Not just because it wraps this series up in a fantastic way.
(I can always count on Gail Carriger to give us an ending I will delight in even when she scares me first) Something
about the way her books and series wrap up is just perfect. In this particular
series she also links this series into her Parasolverse and sends the reader
off into The Parasol Protectorate Series artfully. It is a bit of a wonder to watch
as Ms. Gail wraps up the loose ends here and dangles a few tidbits in front of
the reader to entice them to continue forward. Whether you've read the next
series (like me) or not, it is tempting to jump into Soulless right after
finishing. (See what I did there?)
The girls are at the end of their training and not only are
they versed in these skills we actually get to see them use it. I really
enjoyed seeing their skills and Sophronia's quick thinking once again. The
story is quirky and fun while balancing historical accuracy I really enjoyed the writing style and it is fast
paced. I mentioned before I thought the love triangle was unnecessary and this remains true.
Overall this series has been a lot of fun and my favorite part was the
characters. They are a really interesting group and I am excited to hear more
about them as Gail publishes short stories about their lives.
Hello my friends! I have a lot of reading plans for October. Usually I let me reading mood take me where it will, but this month I want to direct my reading toward the spooky and the scary as much as I can.
One of my big goals this month is to cross off as much of Noura's Bingo Board as I can. You can see my TBR for the bingo board at the bottom of this post. I'm also hoping to participate in Spookathon which is hosted by Lala at BookandLala on Youtube.
Spookathon (October 15th- 21st)
The group book for this readathon is the short story collection Toil and Trouble.
Challenges:
1. read a thriller
2. read a book with purple on the cover
3. read a book not set in the current time period
4. read a book with a spooky word in the title
5. read a book with pictures
October Reading Bingo
My October Bingo board is here! 😍
Super excited to share this with you all! If you're planning on taking part let me know. And share your TBR with me once you decide. Have fun! 💕
In this challenge you can use one title for up to two categories. I am hoping at this point to fill out two rows of challenges. If I accomplish this early, I'll try to fill out more of the board.
Spooky Read: Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye Science Fiction: Vicious by V.E. Schwab Thriller: The Shadow of the Wind by by Carlos Ruiz Zafón By An Author You Love: Lament by Maggie Stiefvater Shifters: Magic Triumphs by Ilona Andrews Book with Magic: One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake Multiple POVs: One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake Witches/Vampire/Werewolf: Silver in the Blood by Jessica Day George Horror: The Isle of Blood by Rick Yancey
30 Day Book Binge
Then there is the low key readathon. The #30DayBookBinge is hosted by Misty and one of my favorite readathons. I don't always succeed in the goal of reading everyday, but I always try and have fun. I don't have a specific TBR for this one. I'm just hoping to read as much as possible.
Are there any reading challenges you are looking forward to in October? Do you like to reading spooky things around this time of year? Tell me your favorites!
This week we are talking about one of my favorite things on Top Five Wednesday. Magic Systems fascinate me. Each one has similar elements, but every one is different as well. They are incorporate different cultural and even religious influences. I love pieces together how they work and the details are often my favorite parts of a story.
